Kantai Collection, abbreviated as KanColle, is a Japanese free-to-play online card game
developed by Kadokawa Games. The game was launched on April 23, 2013. As of May 2014,
the game is available in Japan only and has 2 million registered players. The game has
developed into a much larger media franchise; various media including multiple manga series
and light novels have been released, in addition to an officially licensed tabletop role-playing
game. A television anime series and PlayStation Vita game have been announced.
Gameplay
The gameplay is centred upon a mobage-like card battle game, with individual characters
represented by various cards with different attributes. Each of the characters are moe
anthropomorphisms of World War II naval warships which are depicted as cute girls, known as
"Fleet girls". These personified warships are based on real-life vessels which are explained
in detail within the game; the physical characteristics, appearances and personalities of each of the
girls correlate in some way to the real-life vessel. The player takes on the role of an
admiral and organises their fleets in battle in order to win. Combat is largely automated,
and manual actions by the player include micromanagement such as building and repairing. The player
can organise up to four different fleets. The player progresses through the game by
advancing through maps, gaining experience points through grinding, obtaining new fleet
girls whilst repairing and resupplying existing ones, and fulfilling quests to obtain resources.
New equipment can be crafted, allowing the fleet girls to equip different armaments depending
on the situation. Acquisition of new kanmusu by the player can occur via drops on map or
via crafting, and is heavily RNG-based; randomisation is also a key component of the battle mechanism,
map progression and equipment development. Construction, resupply and repair of ships
is reliant upon four types of resources, namely fuel, ammunition, steel and bauxite; these
supplies will gradually increase automatically as time passes. Players can choose to engage
in expeditions, sorties and quests to further increase their supplies as well.
Ships can be customised through the addition of various equipment within their empty slots,
which add attribute bonuses and even provide special effects in some cases; such equipment
include naval guns, anti-aircraft guns, torpedoes, torpedo bombers, dive bombers, fighter aircraft,
seaplanes, recon planes, radars, steam turbines, special artillery shells, depth charges, sonars,
drum canisters, searchlights and anti-torpedo bulges. The effectiveness of ships in combat
depend on its attribute parameters, namely hitpoints, armour, evasion, aircraft capacity,
speed, attack range, firepower, torpedo, anti-air, anti-submarine, line-of-sight, and luck.
Kanmusu are capable of becoming stronger as they gain experience and level up after battles,
and can also be remodeled into more advanced models once they reach a certain level. Unwanted
kanmusu can also be "fed" to other kanmusu through a process known as "modernisation",
which grants attribute bonuses to one ship in exchange for losing another. Ships can
become fatigued once it accumulates after sorties; fatigued ships have decreased attributes,
whilst sparkling ships have increased attributes. Fatigue can be alleviated by allowing ships
some time to rest, or by recovering the fleet's morale using Japanese food supply ship Mamiya.
As ships become damaged, their icons begin to blow off smoke and their clothing become
visually torn and battered; in the event when a ship's durability drops down to zero, it
is considered sunk, and the player will lose the fleet girl. Players cannot resurrect fleet
girls that have been lost unless they are in possession of an emergency repair item,
and are only able to re-train ships that have been lost from scratch.
Whilst the game is free-to-play, special premium bonuses can be obtained through prepaid game
money and credit card micropayments, such as repair dock expansions, home shipyard furniture
tokens, ship possession limit increases and special consumable items. Although each ship
in the game has an experience level cap of Lv.99, the player is able to obtain the "marriage
papers and ring" item with a monetary purchase priced at 700 yen or via a one-time special
quest, which allows the player to "marry" the girl, thereby breaking the original level
cap and allowing a new maximum of Lv.150, in addition to other perks such as stat boosts
and decreased operating costs; this process can be repeated as many times as the player
wishes, and there is no limit to the number of girls that can be "married".
Players can choose to battle against the fleets of other real-life players on the same game
server via the exercise maneuvers menu. Players are also able to compete with each other's
scores via in-game ranking boards, with periodical prizes for top ranking players. As of June
2014, there are 18 servers that can be played on, each named after a World War II-era Japanese
naval base. The game is currently intended to be played by a Japanese domestic audience
only, with the interface exclusively in the Japanese language. As of present, the game
cannot be played outside of Japan without the use of a VPN; utilisation of such methods
to circumvent country IP restrictions and access the game breach the DMM.com online
game terms of use, however. From August 2013 onwards, new player registrations are only
available via periodic lottery, due to the servers being overloaded by large numbers
of new registrants. Ship types
Battleship: Have strong power and defense, whilst requiring large quantities of resources.
A battleship on either side grants a second attack turn for both the player and enemy
fleets. Aircraft carrier: Allows for preemptive aerial
strikes before battles. Have long repair times, are expensive to maintain, and the planes
require bauxite. Cannot attack at night. Light aircraft carrier: Have better fuel consumption
than standard aircraft carriers and are able to damage submarines, however have lighter
armour. Cannot attack at night. Armored aircraft carrier: Capable of combat
operations even with medium damage. Seaplane carrier: High enemy formation detection
stats. Largely weak. Can be equipped with midget submarines and seaplanes, and can attack
submarines. Can also be remodeled into light aircraft carriers.
Heavy cruiser: Able to deal significant damage, and are fuel efficient. Have decent overall
stats, however does not excel in any particular areas.
Light cruiser: Strong anti-submarine type, effective during night combat. Have low endurance,
and serve as a support role. Though slightly stronger than destroyers, firepower and armour
is still limited. Cheap to maintain. Destroyer: Good for night battles and anti-submarine
warfare, in addition to being cheap to maintain with their good fuel and repair rate. Boasts
a high evasion rate, however also have low armour and firepower.
Torpedo cruiser: Remodeled from certain light cruisers. Capable of deploying midget submarines,
allowing a preemptive torpedo strike. Submarine: Have low health and limited damage
output from its torpedo attacks, however use very small amounts of resources, and can only
be attacked by certain ship types. Have a high evasion rate, however are weak against
ships equipped with depth charges or sonar. Capable of attacking preemptively.
Submarine aircraft carrier: Capable of carrying seaplanes.
Aviation battleship: Remodeled from certain battleships. Deals less firepower than standard
battleships, however can equip seaplane bombers which are able to attack submarines.
Aviation cruiser: Remodeled from certain heavy cruisers. Can equip seaplane bombers which
are able to attack submarines. Amphibious warfare ship: Largely useless during
combat. Autogyros play an anti-submarine role, whilst equipped landing crafts add a resource
bonus to expeditions. Repair ship: When placed within a fleet, gradually
repair other ships within the fleet over time, similar to a repair dock.
It is planned for coastal defense ships to be eventually added to the game in future;
the developers anticipate that these ships will play an anti-submarine role, and will
feature a more cute and childish character design, reason being that coastal defense
ships are smaller in size compared to destroyers. Fleet girls
Upon the debut of the game, there were a total of 94 different fleet girls available. Within
an update introduced May 15–17, 2013, additional fleet girls were added. On September 11, 2013
the first non-Japanese vessel, Soviet destroyer Verniy, was introduced into the game. There
were plans during the early stages to eventually bring additional ships from other countries,
and in March 2014, three German Kriegsmarine vessels were added. Presently there are 135
original girls in addition to 45 upgraded variants, bringing the total number of fleet
girls to 180. The game currently holds spaces for 200 different types of fleet girls. Different
fleet girls are illustrated by different artists; artists involved in the drawing of various
characters include Shibafu, Shizuma Yoshinori, Konishi, Kūrokuro, Mikoto Akemi and 9 other
artists. Fumikane Shimada, who was previously the lead character designer for Strike Witches
and Girls und Panzer, created the designs and illustrations for Japanese armored aircraft
carrier Taihō and the three German vessels. The traits of each fleet girl are based on
aspects of the historical ship they are based on; for instance, Japanese battleship Kongō
frequently adds English words and phrases into her dialog as a reference to her British
origins, whilst Japanese aircraft carrier Akagi is depicted as a glutton and Japanese
destroyer Shimakaze is depicted as a speedy girl in artworks and official print media,
since the Akagi consumed large amounts of fuel and the Shimakaze was one of the fastest
destroyer ships of World War II. Characters which share particular links also have similar
physical traits: ships of the same class may have similar accessories or clothing, whilst
all submarines are depicted as wearing sukumizu. Voice actors have been employed to voice the
fleet girls, with anywhere around 10 fleet girls being voiced by one actor. The complete
list of voice actors involved has not yet been published.
Voice actors Development
Prior to Kantai Collection, the majority of games published by DMM.com were R-18+ adult
online games. In an effort to attract customers from a wider audience, DMM.com experimented
with Kantai Collection in partnership with Kadokawa Games; by November 2013, Kantai Collection
accounted for 30-40% of DMM.com's total online game business.
Media Print media
A bi-monthly online web manga by Momoi Ryōta began serialization from April 23, 2013 in
the Famitsu Comic Clear. The manga follows a 4koma format, and features a storyline with
the fleet girls enrolled in schools, where senior girls teach battle techniques to their
juniors. Momoi Ryōta's 4koma manga will be released in print book format under the title
KanColle: Fubuki, Ganbarimasu! beginning from December 14, 2013. Famitsu Comic Clear has
introduced an additional manga adaptation by Shōtarō Harada under the title Naval
Base Communications. The Famitsu website also hosts a web comic by Mizutaki which focuses
on gameplay aspects of Kantai Collection. In addition, another manga series by Sasayuki
featuring the title KanColle side:Kongō was serialized in Comptiq from December 2013 onwards,
with a story based on the adventures of battleship Kongō. A manga illustrated by Sakae Saitō
titled KanColle: Someday as the Seas turn Calm began serialisation in Monthly Comic
Alive on November 27, 2013, with a focus on an original story revolving around Tenryū
and Tatsuta. A manga titled KanColle: Torpedo Squadron
Chronicles and illustrated by Yasuhiro Miyama began serialisation in the November 2013 issue
of Comp Ace, with the plot focusing on the Akatsuki sisters. Age Premium will feature
a manga publication by Nanaroku titled KanColle: nanodesu. starting from January 2014, with
Inazuma as the main character. A manga series titled KanColle: Shimakaze
Whirlwind Girl by Yamazaki Kazuma is planned to begin serialisation within the Dengeki
Maoh magazine in February 2014. A manga series by Hiroichi titled KanColle: The perched naval
base will begin serialisation in the July 2014 issue of Dengeki Daioh, and will focus
on a storyline revolving around the heavy cruisers Kumano and Suzuya. Kadokawa has also
announced a manga series titled Kantai Collection Black Order, created by Ōto Taguchi who was
previously responsible for the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 manga.
A light novel based on the game has been announced under the title KanColle: Kagerō, Setting
Sail!, written by Tsukiji Toshihiko and illustrated by NOCO. It was released on November 30, 2013.
A short story series featuring aircraft carriers Zuikaku and Shōkaku written by Hiroki Uchida
and illustrated by Mataro, titled KanColle: Bonds of the Wings of Cranes, will begin serialisation
within the January 2014 issue of Dragon Magazine. A novel project featuring aircraft carriers
Kaga and Akagi involving the illustrator Koruri and the authors Siidekei, Kazuyuki Takami
and Bakagane has been announced, with the title KanColle: A day at a certain naval base.
Comptiq, Dengeki Comics, DNA Comics and Famitsu Comic Clear have also published numerous series
of comic compilation books which each contain a collection of various one-shot manga.
Publications KanColle Kai
A PlayStation Vita game titled KanColle Kai was announced during Kadokawa Games' 2013
Autumn media briefing, and is due for a 2014 release. The game will be the second title
independently created by Kadokawa Game Studio, after Natural Doctrine.
In March 2014, financial analyst Fukuda Sōichirō of Citigroup Global Markets Japan made the
prediction in a stock investor report that the PS Vita game would ship 500,000 copies,
and expects that a profit of 1 billion yen be made. He also cites the ability to charge
players for in-game premium items on the PS Vita platform as an upside for Kadokawa Corporation
business-wise. Tabletop RPG
An official KanColle tabletop RPG has been developed; the introductory rulebook for the
game was published by Kadokawa and Fujimi Shobo, and released on 18 March 2014.
Anime A television anime series has been announced,
scheduled to air in January 2015. The series will be animated by Diomedéa, and will feature
Fubuki as the main character, with the storyline based on her point of view. It will be directed
by Keizou Kusakawa, and the script will be written by Jukki Hanada. The anime series
is planned to feature the voice cast from the original game.
Music An original game soundtrack has been announced
for a Q3 2014 release. Drama CD
Limited edition versions of the side:Kongō and Torpedo Squadron Chronicles manga series
tankōbon were bundled with drama CDs featuring original dialogue stories from the characters'
original voice actors, titled "Hiei makes curry" and "Akatsuki's dream".
Plot Whilst the original game does not have a particular
storyline, and largely focuses on gameplay, each of the official media works feature various
settings with separate and differing canons. Not only do the stories differ, but also the
depictions and interpretations of fleet girls and the manner in which they engage in combat.
The game does not strictly define anything relating to its setting, allowing for a greater
diversity of secondary literary adaptation works which cater to different audiences.
KanColle: Bonds of the Wings of Cranes Within the story of Bonds of the Wings of
Cranes, the setting is within an alternate universe where World War II never took place.
The fleet of the Abyss, consisting of monster ships, lock down access to the seas and indiscriminately
fire upon vessels and aircraft, and feed on the corpses of dead sailors in the water.
Ship girls are the guardians of humanity and human-weapon hybrids that are summoned using
spirit energy, with female forms as the ships they represent have female souls. Zuikaku,
having taken a humanoid form, remembers a time where she was once a ship, however does
not know the reason behind her human form. The fleet girls live within an old-fashioned
Japanese-style hotel which doubles as the girls' dormitory, and is close to a nearby
factory which services combat equipment. The admiral of the fleet is a young man who behaves
like a pervert, fond of groping the ship girls and playing with their skirts, although his
personality does become serious when commanding the fleet. As the ship girls and abyssal fleets
engage in combat, both sides are guarded by a protective barrier. The aircraft carriers
Akagi and Kaga are depicted as firing archery arrows from a bow which then transform into
fighter planes. Armaments are detachable equipment, and when not in combat gear the ships otherwise
appear as ordinary girls. KanColle: Kagerō, Setting Sail!
This light novel is set within a universe based on the real world, where normal girls
undergo training to become ship girls. KanColle: Someday as the Seas turn Calm
This manga adaptation focuses on the adventures of the Tenryū Torpedo Squadron as they engage
in search and destroy patrols and respond to distress calls. Within this manga, ship
girls are depicted as flying on the water surface whilst in combat against the abyss
fleet of monster ships, and launch aircraft managed by tiny fairies in a conventional
takeoff manner from their body attachments. Artillery and torpedo combat is shown to be
performed at long range, whilst anti-submarine warfare takes place in close quarters.
KanColle: Shimakaze Whirlwind Girl This manga depicts the story of a newly appointed,
rookie officer by the name of Ensign Akai who arrives at the Maizuru Naval Base for
duty as the assistant to the vice-admiral, however has to deal with a stubborn and difficult
Shimakaze who spends most of her time alone, and does not have any friends.
KanColle: Fubuki, Ganbarimasu! This slice of life 4koma depicts the everyday
life of the ship girls at the fleet training school, where newly manufactured ship girls
spend one year learning knowledge before setting out to sea. Most of the scenarios are taken
from the point of view of Fubuki, and feature the girls doing fun things with one another,
which include attending school, drinking tea, celebrating various holidays like Tanabata,
Halloween and Christmas, in addition to the occasional sortie. The ship girls retain memories
of their previous lives from World War II, at times displaying signs of post-traumatic
stress disorder. References to their personal histories and characteristics are common and
usually used to comedic effect. This manga depicts the ship girls as being able to walk
on the surface of the water in a manner akin to ice-skating.
Merchandise and other collaborations Merchandise based on the game have been launched
as a result of the success of the online game, proliferation of derivative works, and strong
interest in the franchise. PVC figurines have been announced, including Nendoroid and Figma
figurines of both Shimakaze and Akagi, in addition to a 1/7 scale PVC display figurine
of a severely damaged Kongō designed and manufactured by Max Factory. There have also
been reports of Kadokawa filing trademarks for KanColle-themed arcade systems. A trading
card game based on the online game released on 28 March 2014 reportedly sold 1.7 million
packets within its first shipment. In September 2013, a collaborative project
between Kantai Collection and the Arpeggio of Blue Steel anime was announced. Illustrators
for Kantai Collection are responsible for drawing some of the anime end cards for Arpeggio
of Blue Steel, which feature crossovers with Kantai Collection characters. An Arpeggio
of Blue Steel in-game special event for Kantai Collection also took place from 24 December
2013 to 8 January 2014. Reception
Player population
Due to the high popularity of the game within Japan, game operators have created larger
numbers of servers within early 2013 to account for the influx of players. During August 2013,
the number of new players spiked by 100,000 people within one week, to a total of 600,000
people, with 350,000 daily active players. By September 2013, it was reported that there
were more than 800,000 players that were regularly active. The total number of players broke
past 1,000,000 on 9 October 2013. As of May 2014, there are 2 million players. One commonly
cited explanation behind the success of the game is that players aren't forced to spend
money to play unlike other popular Japanese online games; the free-to-play nature of Kantai
Collection makes in-game purchases optional, and not a necessity. It is estimated that
on average, Kantai Collection players spend less money on the game compared to the popular
Japanese games Puzzle & Dragons, The Idolmaster: Cinderella Girls and Love Live! School Idol
Festival. Various unintended consequences have arisen
domestically as a result of this significantly large playerbase, such as its disproportional
influence over the technological sector in Japan. According to a report by research firm
BCN, the market share of Microsoft Windows tablets in Japan suddenly rose to 15% during
the calendar year of 2013—a five-fold increase over the previous year—and that no such
trend is occurring anywhere else outside Japan; this rise is partially attributed to the inability
to properly play Kantai Collection on Android devices, the largest competitor to Windows
tablet devices in Japan. Cultural trends and industry reception
Interest in Kantai Collection has significantly risen over the months following its release,
to the point where it has often been compared with the fandom of Touhou Project as an emerging
viral fandom. There has been a large increase in online activity and fan-created material
relating to the game, such as fan-made artworks, doujinshi and other derivative content. As
of April 2014, there are over 150,000 different artworks on Pixiv tagged with "KanColle" created
by 38,000 individual artists, and KanColle-related videos on Niconico were watched 69.7 million
times. During Comiket 85, there were 1,136 dōjin circles producing works for Kantai
Collection, placing third behind Touhou Project and Kuroko's Basketball, and ahead of The
Idolmaster and Vocaloid; this is a significant increase over the previous Comiket 84 event,
which only had just over 100 circles with Kantai Collection works. Dōjin material relating
to the game have also gained traction overseas; KanColle-exclusive dōjin events have been
held in Shanghai on 22 February 2014, and Taipei on 29 March 2014.
On 12 December 2013, Twitter officially released the top hashtags of 2013; #艦これ was the
most used hashtag among Japanese Twitter users. The game was also the eighth most searched
term within Japan on Google in 2013. On 30 December 2013, GameSpark named Kantai Collection
as the online game category title for its game of the year awards of 2013, ahead of
runners-up League of Legends, World of Tanks and Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn. A survey
of 151 different prominent Japanese game developers conducted by 4gamer asked what each developer
considered to be the best game of 2013; nine of these developers selected Kantai Collection.
Among these developers, Naoki Yoshida of Square Enix, who produced and directed Final Fantasy
XIV: A Realm Reborn, stated that Kantai Collection is Japan's answer to World of Tanks, and that
he was impressed by the business model; meanwhile, Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA director Seiji
Hayashi of Sega referred to the game as "innovative". Kantai Collection was named "Rookie of the
Year" during the WebMoney 2013 Awards, as a new entrant to the games market.
Financial reception and sales figures Speaking at a symposium held by Kadokawa ASCII
Research Institute on 27 September 2013, the chairman of the board of directors of Kadokawa
Group Holdings, Tsuguhiko Kadokawa, stated that despite the game's popularity, Kantai
Collection is nearly unprofitable for the company, in part due to the game being funded
by various company partnerships. Kadokawa's stock price rose by 1000 yen within June 2013,
following the initial rise of the game. It is expected that Kadokawa will need to rely
on sales of intellectual property media works such as books and manga in order to raise
profits. Kadokawa Games president Yoshimi Yasuda affirms that the free-to-play business
model of the game will not change despite reports of a lack of revenue gain.
Tsukiji Toshihiko's light novel Kantai Collection: Kagerō, Setting Sail! sold 16,624 copies
within its first week of release, placing 11th place within the Oricon book ranking
charts. Also debuting the same week were the Sasebo Naval District Compilation Vol.1 and
Maizuru Naval District Compilation Vol.1 comic anthologies, which sold 59,552 copies and
58,110 copies respectively. In mid-November 2013, Yokosuka Naval District Compilation
Vol.1 sold 48,909 copies during its first week, placing 10th place among all comic sales.
The first manga volume of Fubuki, Ganbarimasu! sold 28,324 copies within its first week in
December 2013. The KanColle White Paper official book published by Kadokawa placed third place
overall within the Oricon book charts during its debut week in October 2013, selling 46,039
copies. Political commentary
An editorial within the South Korean Hankook Ilbo on 4 November 2013 accuses that the strong
popularity of the game is due to a conservative political shift amongst young people in Japan
following long-term economic recession and political instability, and that the game majestifies
the wartime Imperial Japanese Navy. Addressing the Hankook Ilbo allegation, Akky Akimoto
writing for The Japan Times disagrees with the idea that the game's design deliberately
facilitates any political shift, and argues that the 1970s anime series Space Battleship
Yamato was subject to similar criticisms despite having little effect on domestic politics.
References
External links Main site at DMM
KanColle at Kadokawa Games "KanColle_STAFF" on Twitter
KanColle manga at Famitsu Comic Clear Official Vita game website
Official anime website KanColle Tabletop RPG website